According to the 2011 census, over 20.8 percent of the United States population spoke another language other than English (www.us-english.org). Language barriers, cultural differences, and immigration have been a part of life in the United States for decades. Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. In the last 200 years immigrants have chosen to make the United States their home, but some proceeded with caution by slowly adapting to the English language and culture.
If a country doesn’t have an official language is usually due to distinct historical or cultural reasons. As I began reading articles on this topic, I was amazed that the great country I live in doesn’t have
…show more content…
According to research, over 322 languages are spoken in the United States as of 2014 (www.us-english.org). In James Crawford article, he stated that one in seven US residents speak another language other than English, which shows that bilingualism is on a rise (1). Many immigrant households are bilingual because the children of immigrants grow up speaking their parent’s native language at home and English at school or other places. This normally means the parents most like migrated to the United States during their adult years and don’t really become fluent in English. As an adult immigrant, it is probably much harder to learn the language well. So, I can’t say that they don’t want to learn, but regardless of whether an immigrant is a first, second, or third generation, it would benefit to learn the English language. One way we teach English to immigrants is through our education system. There are many resources that immigrants have to education that “American Dream” of a great education, but sometimes it frustrates me that our education system is being overly accommodating to immigrants education. We are using a lot of resources and money. Our schools are supposed to prepare students to be successful in the world and support them as they use the skills that they are taught, but if schools are producing graduates who don’t have a thorough grasp of the English language, the schools
A serious issue will occur when 311 languages are spoken throughout the United States , and not one of them is recognized as the official language. I have personally experienced the difficulties of trying to communicate with individuals in my own community, because of the language barrier. This controversy has existed
They moved here in hope of a better future. Due to learning the popular language here statistics have shown that education rises. Those who do not speak English don't get much farther than high school, 40% of those who do not speak it at all, 67% not at all and 12% who speak only English earn less than a high school diploma. Around 71% of those who speak English very well or exclusively earn a college degree (“English Proficiency of Immigrants”). Those who speak English understand the work and the education they are receiving. While those who do not, do not know what they are trying to be taught causing them to fail and never reaching their full potential.
Although the founding fathers decided to leave the idea of establishing a national language out of the Constitution, there have been several movements to establish English as the national language since then. Even though none of these movements could garnish enough support to make this into a reality, they have been influential in that English is the official language in 31 states. In recent years, five additional states have considered legislation that would mandate English as well (Schwarz 2014). Since many individual states have sided on the issue, it poses the question of if the national government should follow the trend as well. A strong argument can be made that the United States should make English as the official language because it would promote unity and patriotism among Americans, be economically beneficial for the nation while rightfully placing the responsibility to learn English on the non-English speaking immigrants.
For many centuries Congress has been trying to pass a law making English the official language but has yet to be successful. In today’s society the most commonly used and heard language is English it is then followed by Spanish and so on. To pass the law that would make English the official language the government would have to provide programs to help the non-English speakers learn English. Thus getting rid of the language barriers that prevent people from understanding each other.
The fact that many people want to make English as the official language they have not seen the benefits of having a wider variety of languages in the country. Although there are many benefits having many different languages in the country, what type of benefits will the country obtained by having English as the official language? Will it actually united the people more? Or will it make it fall apart? In order to find the answers to this questions it will probably be best to talk with a someone that is involved with linguistics and find a similar situation in other countries to use as
Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. English is the most widely spoken language in the world. The number of people who speak it as a second language is increasing dramatically. In the last couple of decades immigrants have chosen to make the United States their home, but some proceeded with caution by slowly adapting to the English language and culture. Others don’t want to learn and adapt to the English culture simply because they believe it will separate them from their own cultures and traditions. Therefore, the question struggling to be answered is, should English be the official language in the United States?
In the united state the most spoken language in English so why not make English official language. I get it that America was formed by immigrants who came across the world who did speak English,but they learned to speak it along the way, because the were already english speakers there understand them better they taught them english. Speaking about this America should make English its official, because of a few reasons.
How can we communicate when we cannot speak English in the United States? The United States really needs to make English our official language. I hope someday that we will have English our official language. .There are too many languages to learn in the United States. We have people from all walks of life speaking different language. If we do not stand for something we will fall for anything. We are trying to adjust to language that we cannot understand , taking care of our business affairs through communication of phone with no one knowing how to speak English language clearly, It has become a crucial situation . How can we communicate with someone about our business affairs
America has influenced and has been influenced from different points of view. Immigrants may find American culture confusing and different from theirs. Adapting to a new culture is difficult but necessary in order to feel more comfortable in the environment they live in. Even though Americans are known for wanting materialistic objects, focusing on the future is more important to achieving success. Immigrants should focus on being economically stable before focusing on what they want to buy. Assimilation takes time to get used to because having to adjust to different diversities takes patience. Immigrants usually come to America to become more successful so in order to do that they need to prioritize what is more important. It is their new homeland and it will take time to adapt to it. Learning the English language is essential to becoming successful. Being bilingual will provide the immigrants with more opportunities in their daily lives. It will make their transformation much easier. According to Munoz, “It was simultaneously the language of the white population and a path toward the richer, expansive identity of American” (Munoz 308). Munoz is saying that knowing the English language will give immigrants more paths to go down. It will provide them with tools to becoming a more successful and richer
Across the United States the amount of people who speak english as a second language or do not speak it at all keeps growing. This means some people could have neighbors that they cannot even ask for a cup or sugar from. There are even sections of the U.S. where immigrants have their own communities and they mostly do not speak english with each other. It is crazy how in a country whose foundation is english has portions of the population where it’s not spoken at all. A foreigner goes to a foreign country and expects to meet people that know the native language. It should be the same for the United States. Although not having english as the official language make coming into the U.S. easier for immigrants, english should be the official language of the United States.
English as the official language of the United States could benefit the U.S. Government and America as a whole. America has long since been a multicultural nation and has been an English speaking nation since it was founded. The constitutional and federal documents are all in English, which furthers the American people, believing English should be our official language. The majority of states already have English as their official language, for English has always provided a much needed cohesion to our diverse citizens since it was founded.
I will be writing an essay about “If the United States should have English as the official language.” I am interested about this topic because surprisingly the U.S doesn’t have an official language. Many people believe that it is because almost everyone speaks it and every place requires it. When in fact it is not the official language and the U.S doesn’t even have one. I will be writing this paper as a debate of why we should and shouldn’t have an official language even though I will be more leaning to the side of having an official language.
Some people believe that speaking the same language can make communication easier and making English the official language would encourage new immigrants to learn the language of the country they have adopted as theirs. However, being forced to learn and use another language can make people lose their connection with their own culture. If English was never the official language for the past two hundred years, why should it change now? Having multiple languages in this country is beneficial because it fosters diversity and also helps preserve one’s cultural
From the time the Pilgrims landed in this great nation at Plymouth Rock, immigrants have been culturally diverse and have spoken many languages. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they did not know how to communicate with the natives. Through intense study the natives learned the Pilgrims’ language. Even with the common language they were still a melting pot of different culture. Some would say that America has gotten over the language/ cultural barriers and now almost everyone speaks the common language of English, but there are still many immigrants who do not know English. Bilingual education is put into public schools for this reason, so that immigrant children can be assimilated to English gradually. The national language
The language barrier is one of the biggest problems people face when they move to another country. Many immigrants who come from other countries are met with many linguistic challenges that not only impede their control of daily life tasks but also their ability to survive. I believe that it is important for immigrants to speak a national language. If they are unable to speak a national language, they will be unable to function to the fullest and therefore become isolated and disempowered from the community.